Chapter 21
Kelly was getting annoyed because Caleb wouldn’t hang up the phone.
She’d come over to his big estate outside DC for the weekend. She wasn’t living with him all the time anymore the way she had in the beginning, but she’d spent the past three weekends with him. Now it was Friday at almost seven in the evening, and he was still on a work call.
He was also wearing nothing but a towel around his waist.
Caleb didn’t have the luxury of working only on weekdays. She didn’t expect him not to work. Or not to take calls on any day or at any hour they came in.
But still, they were scheduled to leave for a black-tie event in ten minutes.
The cocktail party was his thing. It was only because of him that she was going to this party at all.
She’d gotten out of the shower, dried her hair, and done her makeup in the bathroom, and she’d expected him to be dressed when she reentered his bedroom.
But he was sitting in a leather chair near the window, talking on the phone, naked except for the towel.
And he didn’t even appear aware of her presence.
It worried her.
They were supposed to be in a real relationship.
They’d never said the words I love you .
Given both their pasts as commitment-phobes, that would have been far beyond the comfort zone for either of them.
But they’d admitted that the feelings between them were real, and they’d agreed to try to make the relationship work.
He was supposed to care about her, be fully into her, feel for her more than he’d ever felt for anyone else. That was what he’d said, at least.
Which was why it was concerning that he hadn’t noticed that she’d walked into the bedroom wearing nothing but her underwear. He hadn’t even glanced over at her.
She only had a limited amount of time to uncover the truth before her mother died.
If Caleb was losing his interest, if she wasn’t as attractive to him as she used to be, then she could never do what she needed to do.
So she was distracted and out of sorts as she walked over to the dresser and looked in the mirror.
Her makeup was good—setting off her blue eyes, high cheekbones, fair skin, and full lips—and her long hair was pulled up into an elegant twist. Her bra and panties were a sexy black lace, much more expensive than she’d ever bought for herself before she’d met Caleb.
He was talking about some sort of marketing campaign. She heard the words, but they were of no interest. It didn’t sound like an emergency, so it was definitely time for him to hang up the phone.
With that same flutter of anxiety and uncertainty, she grabbed a tube of lotion from the bag she’d brought over for the weekend and squeezed some out on her palm.
Then she walked over so she was directly in Caleb’s line of sight, sat down on the edge of the bed, and started to rub the lotion into one of her legs.
She had long legs and good breasts. Caleb had always appreciated her body. Might as well use it to her advantage.
She massaged the lotion in slowly, extending her leg in a way she hoped was sexy.
With a clench of pleased satisfaction, she noticed from the corner of her eye that Caleb’s eyes had shifted over to her.
He was still talking, but at least now he was watching her.
She took her time rubbing the lotion on her other leg as well, and then she stood up and started applying it to her arms and shoulders in turn.
He was definitely focused on her now. His eyes had taken on a familiar heat—albeit still distracted by his conversation—and his gaze didn’t leave her body.
Making sure to act unaware, she walked over to the closet to get a dress. She’d brought two possibilities with her for this evening since she hadn’t been sure which she should wear. Inspired, she grabbed the one she’d already decided against.
She returned to his line of sight to slowly, sensually pull the dress on, letting the soft fabric cling to her body.
It was a blue that matched her eyes, and she studied herself in the mirror, turning around and pretending to be evaluating the effect. She slipped on her high heels and looked at herself again.
Then she unzipped it and let it fall slowly to the floor so she was standing in nothing but her underwear and heels.
Caleb stumbled over something he was saying.
Acting as though she wasn’t paying any attention to him and hiding her flush of pleasure at this clear evidence that he was so affected by her, she walked back to the closet to get her other dress.
This one was a deep red, a sleeveless column of fabric with well-tailored ruches and a slit on one side that came all the way up her thigh.
Caleb wasn’t talking much anymore. Just occasionally saying “yeah.” She didn’t dare to look over at him fully because he would suspect what she was trying to do.
But the brief glances she sneaked proved that his body had grown tense and his skin was slightly flushed.
He was turned on. No doubt about it. It gave her a rush of pleasure and relief and also a pride that left her slightly uncomfortable.
She was so focused on looking sexy as she tried to zip up her dress that she was at a loss when the zipper snagged on the fabric.
She tugged on it gently and then frowned, wondering how she was supposed to get it unsnagged and still look sexy.
She gasped and gave a little jump when she felt a hand over hers on the zipper.
Caleb had gotten up and moved behind her while she was distracted.
“Stuck?” he asked, his voice thick and textured the way it always was when he was turned on.
He was standing behind her, and his eyes were moving with a hungry heat from her face down her body in the mirror over the dresser.
“Try not to tear it,” she said as he focused back down on her zipper. “This dress was expensive.”
“It was well worth the money.”
With a little work, he freed the zipper and pulled it all the way up.
“Did you finish with your call?” she asked, glancing back to where he’d left his phone on the table next to the chair.
“You made sure of that, didn’t you?”
She made her eyes wide and innocent. “What do you mean?”
“You know exactly what I mean. You think I’m so easy that I’ll be manipulated by the sexy little show you just gave me.”
She glanced over her shoulder and down at his groin, where he was visibly aroused beneath the towel. She just cleared her throat, trying to hide a smile.
“That’s only a victory,” Caleb said, “if a man is led around by his dick.”
“And you’re not?”
“What do you think?”
She met his eyes in the mirror, and she felt the strangest twisting of fear, pleasure, and possession at what she saw in his expression.
“I think I told you on the first day we met that, by the time I was through with you, all your unrelenting alpha-maleness would be broken. I must be off to a good start.” She made sure her expression was teasing, almost taunting.
They’d done this verbal dance from the beginning, and it was sometimes as exciting to her as his touch.
“Is that what you think?” As Caleb spoke, he pulled the zipper of her dress back down.
She glanced over at the clock. “We’re supposed to leave in five minutes.”
“Then I’ll have to prove my point quickly.”
Her breath was already quickening as he slowly slid her dress down to the floor, leaving her again wearing nothing but her heels and underwear. “What point?”
“That there’s nothing broken about me.”
She reached behind her to caress his hard cock through the towel, pleased when he gave a soft grunt. “It feels like you’re not going to hold out very long in this little show of strength you’re putting on.”
He took her wrist and pulled her hand away, planting it on the dresser. “Was that a challenge?”
“I know how you feel about those.” She gave him a teasing smile in the mirror.
She did know how he responded to a challenge—the same way she always had. She’d never met another man who could match her will, in bed or out of it. She could see the defiance smoldering in his eyes right now, and it triggered a matching reaction in her.
He might not know the real battle that would always be waged between them—the clash of mighty opposites, as Shakespeare had put it—but these smaller duels had always shaped their relationship.
So she was ready for him when he stepped forward, pressing his body into hers from behind and kissing the side of her neck.
Instinctively she leaned back into him, and she sighed with pleasure as his hands stroked up and down her mostly naked body. Her eyelids lowered involuntarily, but she could see in the mirror through her mostly closed eyes as Caleb skillfully worked over her body with his hands.
She stifled a gasp as he fondled her nipples through the lace of her bra, and she arched her spine as the pleasure started to build.
She was still in control though. She wasn’t yet in danger of losing this challenge.
He caressed her skillfully in silence, both of them watching him in the mirror, and Kelly could see her cheeks redden and her nipples growing visibly tight with her arousal.
Then he tilted his head and said against her ear, the vibration of his husky voice making her shudder, “Your pussy is wet.”
It was true. Her pussy was wet. And hot. And aching. And her whole body was now flushed with heat.
But she wasn’t about to lose a challenge so easily. “And you’re still hard. That doesn’t mean anything. You’re going to have to work a lot harder than that if you want to win this little game.”
“I’ve barely started.” His voice had grown softer, although that same primal heat was evident in his eyes.
His hand dropped down to the curve of her breast and, using his knuckles again, he flicked one of her nipples—which were jutting out prominently through the fabric of her bra.
“I can see how much you want me now. You’re dying for me to fuck you. ”